Sentence of Marriage (22 page)

Jack followed her with his eyes, a soft smile playing around his mouth. ‘That’s brightened her up, hasn’t it?’

‘Yes, Pa.’

‘She’s been crook since George arrived, it really seemed to take it out of her, even worse than Tom did. Jimmy seemed a pleasant enough lad when I was staying at their house, he should fit in with us all right. It’s worth it to see her happy, eh, girl?’

‘It’s only one more to cook for, that won’t make much difference,’ Amy said, but she couldn’t help feeling apprehensive about what it would be like to have a male version of Susannah to put up with all summer.
I hope he’s better tempered than she is. And I hope he doesn’t decide to hate me like she seems to
.

*

‘Guess what?’ Lizzie said when she came over to see Amy the following week. The two of them were leading Thomas up the hill behind Amy’s house, walking slowly to keep to the toddler’s hesitant pace. ‘Frank and I went for a walk together when he came over on Saturday—that’s the first time!’

Amy laughed. ‘Well done! I expect you’ll be announcing your engagement any time now. Where did you go?’

‘Well,’ Lizzie said, ‘it wasn’t very far, really—but it was still a walk.’

Her evasiveness made Amy suspicious. ‘Go on, Lizzie, tell me—where did you go?’

‘Oh, if you’re going to nag about it—we went down to feed the pigs. Frank carried the slops bucket for me, though,’ she added quickly. ‘Stop laughing.’

‘I can’t help it,’ Amy said, hardly able to speak for laughter. ‘You’re so funny. Did he give you a kiss by the pig sty?’

‘I won’t answer that,’ Lizzie said with a toss of her head.

‘That means he didn’t. I expect he was too shy with all those pigs watching.’

‘Humph! I suppose you think that’s funny. We’re not up to kissing yet, I’ll have you know. It’ll be a while before I’ll let him do that. I don’t want Frank to think I’m a loose woman.’

‘I don’t know about
letting
him, Lizzie—you might have to do it for him.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Lizzie said, suddenly thoughtful. ‘On Saturday I caught him looking at me, and I sort of got this feeling he wanted to… I don’t know, hold my hand or something.’

‘Hmm, you’d better watch him, then,’ Amy said with mock seriousness. Thomas let out a cry; Amy looked down and saw that he had bumped his foot against a stone. ‘Oh, Tommy, poor baby.’ She snatched him up and cuddled him until he stopped crying. The little boy seemed tired, so Amy decided to carry him the rest of the way.

‘Aunt Susannah didn’t seem as grumpy as usual today,’ Lizzie said. ‘What’s cheered her up?’

Amy grimaced. ‘Her brother’s coming to stay in December. He’s going to be here all summer.’

‘Ugh,’ Lizzie said. ‘Fancy having two lots of Susannah around. You’d better come and stay at our place.’

‘I can’t do that, I’ve got too much to do here. It’ll be even worse with another man to feed. Anyway, you’ll probably be too busy with Frank to want me around.’

‘Maybe. I’ll still have time to keep an eye on you, don’t you worry.’

‘It’s you who’ll need an eye kept on if Frank’s going to go wild,’ Amy said. She screamed as Lizzie made a grab at her. ‘No, Lizzie, don’t tickle me, not when I’m holding Tommy—I’ll drop him.’

‘Don’t be so rude, then,’ Lizzie growled.

*

Susannah became more and more excited as her brother’s arrival drew closer. Jack watched her in fond indulgence. ‘You’re like a child waiting for Christmas,’ he said.

‘I haven’t had anything nice happen for so long, of course I’m looking forward to it,’ Susannah answered. Amy looked at her father to see if that had hurt him, but he was still smiling affectionately.

‘It’s next week!’ Susannah said at the end of November. ‘I’m going to make all his favourite cakes. He especially likes gingerbread—and currant cakes, too.’ She bustled about, taking more interest in the kitchen than she had for many months.

‘It’s tomorrow!’ she said the following Tuesday at breakfast. ‘Now, where’s he going to sleep?’

‘He can share with me, I don’t mind,’ John said, surprising Amy. John had become steadily more silent around the house over the last two years, as Susannah became more difficult.

‘Oh. That’s good of you, John, thank you,’ Susannah said. ‘Though perhaps it would be nice for James to have a room to himself?’ She glanced at Harry, and he glared back with a look of such open hostility that she quailed before it. ‘I suppose it doesn’t matter, really,’ she added hastily.

The next afternoon Susannah was ready to leave for town long before she needed to be, and she kept casting anxious glances at the clock as Jack lingered comfortably over his pudding. ‘Are you sure it’s not time to leave yet?’ she asked repeatedly.

‘Don’t worry, the lad won’t go anywhere till we get there,’ Jack said as he finished his cup of tea. ‘The boat won’t be tying up for a couple of hours yet, anyway.’ But to humour Susannah he agreed to leave an hour earlier than he thought was necessary. He helped Susannah into the buggy, where Amy placed a sleeping George on her lap, then Amy held Thomas and encouraged him to wave as the buggy disappeared down the road.

‘They’ve gone to fetch your uncle,’ Amy told Thomas as she carried him back inside, and the oblivious toddler chortled at her.

Jack and Susannah were gone all afternoon. Amy had the table set and the roast keeping warm by the time she heard the buggy rattle up the road. She steeled herself to be polite to the intruder.

The back door opened, and Susannah walked in clutching her brother’s arm with one hand while she held George in her other arm. Jack came in at their heels. ‘Here we are!’ said Susannah. ‘Oh, this is Amy,’ she added carelessly. ‘Amy, this is James.’

‘Jimmy,’ he said quickly. ‘I prefer “Jimmy”. You and Mother—and Constance, of course—are the only ones who call me James, and I’ve given up trying to get you to change.’ The fond smile he gave Susannah took any sting out of his words.

The next moment Amy found his smile turned on her, and it was such an infectiously friendly smile that she found herself returning it. Jimmy was tall and slim, like Susannah, and like his sister he had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was much younger, though; probably about twenty, Amy decided. She had assumed he would be in his late twenties, like Susannah.

‘Hello, Amy,’ Jimmy said, putting down his Gladstone bag. He waited politely for her to offer her hand before extending his own to shake it. ‘You’re older than I expected—they talked about you as though you’re six years old!’

‘Everyone always does,’ Amy said with a rueful smile.

‘And this fine little fellow must be Thomas.’ Thomas had decided to be shy, and he hid behind Amy’s skirt, peering out cautiously. Jimmy crouched down to the little boy’s level. ‘Don’t you want to say hello to your Uncle Jimmy?’

‘Come on, Tommy,’ Amy coaxed, and Thomas emerged to study the stranger more carefully. After a few moments he broke into a happy smile and let Jimmy hug him.

‘I’ll show you your room, James,’ Susannah said, unloading George into Amy’s arms. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to share it with John.’ She led Jimmy out of the room.

‘I’ve had my ear bent all the way home,’ Jack said, sitting down at the table. ‘The two of them talking non-step—well, mainly your ma talking and Jimmy listening.’ He smiled fondly. ‘She’s been a different woman since she knew young Jimmy was coming—I think she’s starting to get her strength back.’

Amy soon saw what her father had meant. During dinner the conversation was completely dominated by Susannah asking questions about her family and her old acquaintances, with Jimmy doing his best to answer between mouthfuls. When Susannah stopped to take a breath Amy would leap in to offer Jimmy more food, and she was pleased to see that he seemed to enjoy the meal.

After dinner Susannah led Jimmy off to the parlour on her arm, and Jack and his sons soon followed. Amy cleared the table and washed the dishes, then mixed the bread dough for the morning’s baking and left it near the range to rise. She collected her sewing box from her bedroom and went through to the parlour, where she sat opposite Susannah and Jimmy, who were sharing a sofa. Her father smiled at her from his armchair, then buried his nose in the
Weekly News
again.

Amy pulled out the embroidered pillowslip she was working on and stitched away while she listened to Susannah and Jimmy talking about people she had never heard of. Susannah was in a lively mood, and she even laughed once or twice, something Amy could not remember ever hearing her do before. Jimmy had a pleasant voice, low-pitched and somehow always sounding as though there was laughter bubbling not far below the surface.

‘I went to rather a good play the other week,’ Jimmy said when Susannah had briefly run out of questions.

Before she had time to think, Amy burst out, ‘A play! Oh, what was it?’

Susannah turned a disapproving stare on her, and Amy shrank back against the sofa, furious with herself for having spoken out of turn.

‘It was—’ Jimmy began, but Susannah interrupted him.

‘Amy, it’s time you went to bed. You’ve got to be up early in the morning, and you seem a little over-excited.’

‘But it’s only half-past seven!’ Amy protested. ‘I don’t usually go to bed till—’

‘Never mind that—tonight you’re going to bed at half-past seven. Off you go, be a good girl.’

Amy could see it was no use arguing. She put away her sewing, went to her father and gave him a goodnight kiss, then exchanged the barest brush of cheeks that passed for a kiss between Susannah and herself. ‘Good night,’ she said to Jimmy as she walked past him, and he gave her a smile that she thought just might be sympathetic.

‘She’s rather a spoiled child,’ she heard Susannah say to Jimmy as she left the room. ‘Take no notice of her.’

December 1883

On the morning of Jimmy’s first full day on the farm, Amy came out to the kitchen to find him sitting at the table. He yawned dramatically and gave a rueful smile.

‘Slept in too late to help with milking, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘I think John gave me a nudge, but I was enjoying being asleep too much to take any notice. I’m not used to country hours yet.’

To her annoyance, Amy felt tongue-tied and shy. She wanted to make a good impression, but she would seem a real bumpkin if she just stood stupidly and looked at him.

‘Would you like some breakfast?’ she asked. He accepted, and even offered to help, which rather shocked her. She tried to refuse as graciously as she could, but Jimmy insisted on setting the table for her.

‘If I can’t be any use in the cow shed, at least I can give you a hand in the kitchen,’ he said with a laugh, and Amy found herself laughing with him. It was pleasant to have company while she worked, and Jimmy was easy to talk to once she got over her initial hesitation. He seemed interested in the mundane details of her daily routine of house and farm work, wanting to know how she made butter and how many hens she had.

She served him breakfast and ate her own with him, then stacked their dishes on the bench while she prepared food for the men.

‘Where’s that lazy sister of mine?’ asked Jimmy. ‘Why isn’t she out here helping you?’

‘Oh, Susannah never gets up before eight,’ said Amy. ‘The babies wake her up in the night, so she gets very tired,’ she added quickly, not wanting to appear critical of Jimmy’s sister.

‘And what about you—don’t you get tired, getting up so early and working hard all day?’

‘I’m used to it,’ Amy said, a little embarrassed but at the same time flattered.

‘Could you show me around the farm later?’ Jimmy asked. ‘I want to see it all and learn all about it.’ He gave another of his engaging smiles. ‘As much as I’m capable of learning, anyway.’

‘I’d love to,’ Amy said, her cheeks pink with pleasure.

So later that morning they explored the farm together. She showed him the cow shed and the barns, pointing out the wagons and machinery and explaining their uses. She prattled away, describing the haymaking that would soon start.

‘First there’s Christmas, there’s usually a party just before that with everyone there, babies and old people and all. Then Boxing Day they start getting the hay in. Everyone works together, especially with the stacking. The men go around all the farms working on the haystacks. It takes weeks to do them all. There’s often a dance after the haymaking’s finished—a real one, with music and proper dancing and no children. I’ve never been to a hay dance, but Pa said I could this year.’

‘Never been to one?’ Jimmy asked, surprised. He looked at her more closely. ‘How old are you, Amy?’

‘I turned fifteen in October,’ she said proudly.

‘Only fifteen? And practically running the house, and you know so much about the farm—I thought you were seventeen at least,’ Jimmy said. Amy glowed.

They walked up the hill behind the farmhouse. They had to climb over a gate on the way, and Jimmy put his hands around her waist to lift her down from it, holding her for a moment longer than was strictly necessary when he had put her back on the ground. He was puffing from the climb by the time they reached the top, and Amy had to slow her pace so he could keep up with her.